Chapter 10: Garcia Master Bedroom

GARCIA MASTER BEDROOM

2:05PM

Arjun cautiously nodded again and did as he was told. When he opened his eyes, he saw a light blue ceiling.

He was disoriented and unsure of his surroundings; for a brief moment, he’d had an indescribable sixth sense that he was back in the real world, but that sense had been overwhelmed by a flood of sensations and a string of scattered, racing thoughts. He tried to slow his breathing, and with it, his heart rate.

He slowly looked around and noticed he was in a large bedroom with plenty of natural light streaming in through the windows. There was a desk in the corner with a laptop on it, and a door that led to a bathroom. Arjun tried to sit up, but he felt dizzy and light-headed.

“Be careful,” Marianna said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t get up too quickly.”

Arjun laid back on the bed, still feeling dizzy. He asked Marianna, “Is it always going to be like this?” As he spoke, he couldn’t help but notice Marianna’s large breasts.

“With you staring at my breasts?” Marianna asked teasingly. “Probably. If you’re worried, just know that I don’t mind.”

Arjun blushed and averted his gaze... “No,” he said. “I meant always waking up dizzy after going into my mind.”

“Oh, yeah,” Marianna said casually. “But it should get better with practice. We just dragged you to the gym and made you exercise a muscle you’ve barely used. Not to say it’s an actual drug trip, hijo, but if you don’t know what an actual hangover feels like yet, consider this as your preview. Although I suppose plenty of people swear they’ll never drink again, too, but then do.”

Arjun groaned as he tried to get up again. Heedless of what Marianna had just said, he promised himself he’d never drink in college. He’d barely ever had alcohol — just a few times that his mother had “made” wine into water for him.

Arjun turned his head back to Marianna, and her very inviting breasts were once again full in his eyeline. “Where’s Paco?”

“He went downstairs to get you some tea,” Marianna said, getting up from the bed. Her breasts bounced as she landed on her feet and fixed her shirt.

“Wait...” Arjun said, his voice trailing off. “When did he do that?”

“Well, you did wake up a little late,” Marianna replied.

“What?!” Arjun quickly sat up in shock.

“Woah, woah.” Marianna rushed over and immediately pushed Arjun back down onto the bed. Her breasts brushed against his face slightly. “Don’t get up. You weren’t out for long — just a minute or two. Hijo, please trust us.”

“How long were we in there?” Arjun asked.

“Couple of hours,” Marianna said, still holding onto Arjun. “But here, it’s only been about five minutes, at most. Time works differently in our mind.”

Arjun began to speak, but just then Paco entered the room with tea in his hands. “Am I interrupting anything?” Paco teased.

“No, you’re fine,” Marianna said, smiling.

Paco walked over to Marianna’s side, handing her the tea. “Here.” Paco moved near Arjun’s side, helping him sit up, and took the tea from Marianna’s hand. “Drink this; it should help with the dizziness.”

Arjun took the tea. It smelled familiar to him — extremely familiar, in fact. “What’s in it?” Arjun asked curiously.

“Definitely not poison,” Marianna teased...

“No.” Arjun slowly shook his head. “It smells familiar - like something my mom would make whenever I was sick.”

“Oh,” Marianna said. “Oh!”

Arjun looked at her, confused by her wide-eyed expression. He glanced over to Paco, and saw much the same.

“What?” Arjun asked, confused. He absentmindedly took a sip from the tea. It did more than just ‘help’ with the dizziness. Almost like magic, Arjun’s ‘hangover’ was gone.

“The Coleus barbatus is that plant over there,” Paco said, pointing to a plant on the windowsill. “And the red ginger plant isn’t here; we only have the leaves from them. So I can’t really show you, but red ginger is...”

“Think of it as cinnamon, ginger and mint mixed in,” Marianna finished for him. “It sounds terrible, but it’s really tasty as a tea.”

Arjun nodded, looking at the plant on the windowsill. His parents had it around the house. “We call that plant Panikoorka.”

“Interesting,” Marianna said. “How are you feeling?”

“So much better,” Arjun said, finishing up the tea and standing up.

“Good!”

Arjun paused for a moment, hesitating to speak, “Can I ask you guys something?”

“Sure,” Paco said. “What do you want to ask?”

“How come you guys weren’t fazed by what you saw?” Arjun asked. “I know this isn’t the most important thing right now, but I’m still curious.”

“The thing with your mom?” Marianna asked, smirking slyly.

Arjun nodded.

“In Maya Lokam,” Marianna said, “sex, nudity, and even incest, isn’t really that looked down upon. Almost everyone practices incest; to us, it’s normal. I don’t even think most people there would call what happened to you proper incest — more like a hazard of being a powered person. I know you probably don’t feel that way, though.